SotG Introduction
Reference Book: Star Wars Saga Edition Starships of the Galaxy The cold stillness of space is shattered by the chaos of dozens of turbolasers discharging at once. An Imperial Star Destroyer fires broadsides at a Nebulon-B Frigate, the two passing one another in opposite directions like oceangoing ships passing through the night. In between exchanges of heavy weapons fire, a trio of TIE Fighters twists between glowing laser bolts while two X-Wing Fighters mimic their movements, swirling around in a deadly dance. A Corellian Corvette, leaking atmosphere and listing heavily, slams into the bridge of the Star Destroyer, setting off a chain reaction that destroys both vessels. Sounds exiting? It does. Want it in your Star Wars campaign? You should. That is what Starships of the Galaxy is all about. This section is designed to give Gamemasters and players everything they need to inject space combat, on both small and large scales, into any Star Wars Roleplaying Game campaign. This section contains new options for heroes looking to make their mark on the galaxy from the cockpit of a Starfighter and features information for Gamemasters to help make this happen. Whether you are simply looking for some new ships to throw into the mix or want to make Space Combat a larger part of your campaign, this section provides everything you need to enhance your Star Wars Starship-based experience. Lock S-Foils in Attack Position! The contents of this section are intended to allow players and Gamemasters to inject Starship Combat into an ongoing campaign. The Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition Core Rulebook presents basic rules for Space Combat that mimic the rules for Character Combat, and provide a quick and easy way to integrate Starship Combat into the game. Although those rules are perfectly are perfectly fine for most encounters, some players and GMs may wish to include more depth and diversity in their Space Combat. Likewise, Gamemasters who want to run a campaign that focuses on a Starfighter Squadron will likely need more robust rules for Space Combat and more options for opponents, allowing them to create diverse encounters in Starships just as they would at Character Scale. This section is designed as a campaign supplement that expands Starship Combat to be more than just the occasional chase scene in which the heroes escape from TIE Fighters without engaging in serious combat. By using the options in this section, a Gamemaster can shift the focus in a campaign to Starship Combat, or simply expand existing Space Combat encounters to make them more exiting. Though adding options from this book will likely add complexity to your game, the new mechanics presented here will expand and enhance your spacefaring adventures. Although many of the rules in this section can be used for Vehicles on the ground (Or even in the air), most of this section focuses on Starships operating in space. Starship statistics still contain atmospheric movement speeds (Following the standard format established in Vehicle Combat), but the new mechanics are mostly geared toward Starship Combat. Get Everyone Involved In the past, one of the more common drawbacks to Starship Combat was that it left many players sitting and waiting for the encounter to end due to their lack of Starship-related Skills. Even when participating, many characters found their options limited by their roles aboard the ship. One of the primary goals of Starships of the Galaxy is to make Starship Combat more accessible to characters of all roles and archetypes. For example, the Noble will find information on using their Talents for Inspiration and Leadership in Starship Combat, while the Scoundrel will be able to disrupt and damage their opponents just like they do in Character Combat. Starships of the Galaxy should engage all players- not just Pilots and Gunners- to get involved and use their special abilities in Space Combat scenes. Moreover, this section presents a variety of new options for the core Heroic Classes and relevant Prestige Classes (Such as the Ace Pilot and the Officer). Members of each Class will find new Talents (And even new Talent Trees), some new uses for Skills, and some new Feats that will round out their characters. The goal of these new abilities is to get each character more involved in Space Combat. The Saga Edition rules set goes a long way toward encouraging this behavior; even characters Untrained in the Pilot Skill have some capacity to Pilot a ship, and their ability to make attacks with Vehicle Weapons is equally enhanced by many of the same Talents and Feats that affect normal ranged attacks. Essentially, any character's basic abilities make that character capable of participating in Space Combat in one way or another. Starship Specialists One of the best uses for Starships of the Galaxy, as mentioned above, is enabling characters to take full advantage of the new Starship Combat rules presented here. These new options range from the aforementioned Talents and Feats to an entirely new Space Combat Maneuvers System. Similar in design to The Force system from the Saga Edition Core Rulebook, this Space Combat Maneuvers System turns Starship Combat into more than just a matter of moving and shooting. With the expanded system provided in this section, Starship Combat becomes a more tactical affair for some characters, letting them do incredible things when behind a flight stick. Fortunately for heroes not piloting the ship, there are plenty of new options in this book as well. Technicians and other technically inclined characters will find a number of new rules in Starships of the Galaxy that should make it easier for them to jump in and participate in Space Combat. Similarly, many of the Starship Maneuvers can be used by Gunners as well as Pilots, allowing weapons operators to take full advantage of special bonuses and abilities just as Pilots might. With Starships of the Galaxy in hand, you won't have to be an Ace Pilot just to be effective at Starship Combat, encouraging all character types to take part in Space Combat encounters. Starship Codex Though the new character options certainly make Starship Combat more appealing, the bulk of this book is dedicated to presenting statistics and information for a variety of Starships, ranging from small Starfighters to massive Capital Ships and Space Stations. Players might be tempted to view Starships of the Galaxy as a catalog of potential purchases, and as heroes rise in statue and wealth, many new options (Including those available in this section) become open to them. The Starship Codex also serves Gamemasters as a collection of challenges just waiting to be thrown at the heroes. Whether you are looking for a new personal Starfighter or the perfect ship to add to an admiral's fleet, that chapter should have you covered. The Starship Codex presents ships of all types and sizes, drawn from the full breadth of the Star Wars saga and Expanded Universe of comics, novels, and video games. The majority of the statistics in this section are for the stock, unmodified versions of these ships, making it easier for players to obtain these ships and make it their own. For example, rather than presenting statistics for [[The Ebon Hawk|The Ebon Hawk]] (From the Knights of the Old Republic video game series), this chapter contains statistics for the stock model of this ship (The Dynamic-Class Freighter), which players can then modify to their own tastes. In some cases, statistics are presented for "Famous" versions of these ships, but each one also contains the stock statistics for the vessel without modifications. Make it your own Starships of the Galaxy presents a complete guide to modifying your Starship to make ir the way you want it. Han Solo's famous line about having made a few "Special Modifications" to [[The Millennium Falcon|The Millennium Falcon]] comes to life in the form of the Starship Modification rules. Want to put a new engine in your freighter? Want to upgrade the laser cannons on your X-Wing? Want to give that old Corellian Corvette some new hull plating? Now you can, and it's not just a matter of paying someone else to do it. Techie character (Such as Technicians) will now enjoy getting their hands dirty and making these modifications themselves, using new abilities to enhance the modifications. The Starship Modification rules can be used to build a Starship from scratch. Though doing this is far more time-consuming than heroes simply purchasing a new Starship and enhancing it to fit their needs, these rules allow you to take a standard, base model of a ship and add each component individually to come up with a custom spacecraft. Though most good outlaw techs will prefer the tinkering and reworking of a Starship that the Starship Modification rules provide, a Noble seeking their own custom Space Transport might use these rules to order a ship directly from the factory, giving them a ship that is unlike any other vessel in the galaxy. Additionally, some of the ships in this section are presented with deckplans suited for use by adventuring heroes. These deckplans allow players and Gamemasters to create interesting encounters aboard the Starship itself; after all, you never know when you're going to need to repel boarders or ambush Stormtroopers after hiding in your own smuggling compartments. Enhanced Encounters Gamemasters will find these sections exceptionally useful for designing Starship Combat encounters. One of the primary goals of these sections is to help make space combat just as existing, dynamic, and engaging as Character Combat. One of the means by which this is accomplished is in helping Gamemasters designing interesting encounters. An encounter's design is critical to holding the players' interest, and the advice and options in these sections should make it easy for Gamemasters to come up with encounters that are more interesting than simply shooting at enemy ships from a distance. Additionally, the information in these sections should make it easier for the Gamemaster to keep all members of the party- not just the Pilot and Gunners- engaged and interested in space combat encounters. Good space combat encounter design involves more than just populating the battlefield with interesting enemies. SotG Starship Combat provides new options for Space Combat Terrain (Such as Debris Fields and Gaseous Nebulae) and helps Gamemasters introduce complications and other new factors into combat to increase tension or provide a sense of urgency. Gamemasters who take full advantage of these sections should be able to create Starship Combat encounters that not only challenge their players but also create memorable battles like those seen in the Star Wars films. Updated Statistics These sections feature a number of updated and expanded statistics for ships appearing in the Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition Core Rulebook. In some cases, the statistics in these sections differ from those featured in the Core Rulebook, having been changed due to new rules presented in this book or to improve game play. Although the statistics in the Core Rulebook will still work for your game, those found in these sections should supercede the ones from the Core Rulebook in most cases. However, since no two Starships of the same model need to be identical, Gamemasters should feel free to use statistics from both books to provide variety in game play.